


You’re mine (I just don’t know it yet)

by kleinerGummiflummi



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, Smut, Trans Male Character, Trans Rhys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-07-13 06:51:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16012562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kleinerGummiflummi/pseuds/kleinerGummiflummi
Summary: Sure, Rhys is the biggest Handsome Jack fanboy ever, but he’s always been decent about it.Everyone gets wet dreams once in a while, but when Jack learns that Rhys’ aren’t about him he gets mildly jealous and puts the fact that he lives in his brain and the powers over the man’s mind that come with it to good use.After he saved the bumbling idiot from himself for the twelfth time, Jack realizes that he might actually start to like Rhys, not only as a toy but as a person? Not that he’d ever let anyone know that. Ever. Least of all Rhys. Nah, Rhys can suck a dick. Jack’s dick to be specific, but only in his dreams. For now.





	1. Chapter 1

****Jack had been watching the boy, whose head he is apparently now stuck in, for quite a while.  
  
Rhys was probably the most incompetent person Jack has ever had the bad luck of meeting. Constantly stumbling from one bad situation to the next, Jack has had to watch him almost get both of them killed on twelve different occasions without ever being able to intervene. And that was just the times when he was actually present. It seemed like a strong hit to Rhys’ head was like a power button for Jack. He wasn’t quite aware of what happened in the time in between but whenever he returned it seemed like the kid had somehow gotten himself into worse trouble.  
  
So far the bumbling idiot’s dumb luck had carried them through everything alive, but when Jack felt himself flicker back into consciousness in the middle of the desert, and Rhys had managed to get a gun trained on his stupid idiot face, armed with nothing but a shovel, Jack grew sceptical of the kid’s seemingly innate ability to summon a deus ex machina whenever he needed one.  
  
“Hey, kiddo. Bad situation, huh?”  
  
Rhys made a noncommittal noise and the assface with the gun squinted at him.  
  
At least he had the common sense not to run around yelling at people about the ghost he was seeing. Finally something about the kid that Jack could appreciate.  
  
“So… Do you have any idea how you’re gonna get yourself out of this?”  
  
Another noise, this time quieter and not exactly the overwhelming confidence Jack had hoped for. He really shouldn’t have expected too much.  
  
Jack couldn’t not try to intervene in whatever way possible. Mostly because the idiot’s brains would get blown out if he didn’t, and that was kinda the place where he lived at the moment.  
  
“Kiddo, regrettably it’s not just your hide on the line, but mine as well. Tell ya what, you just do what he says, buy me some time and I’ll think of something. How does that sound, pumpkin?”  
  
With a huff, Rhys started to dig.  
  
Jack drew himself back into that weird space he now resided in, somewhere in between physical and theoretical.  
  
He probed around in his surroundings for a bit, finding where the brain implants controlled Rhys’ metal arm. Coming back to the situation at hand, he realized that the assface with the gun was having trouble locating the trigger, so he filed away that bit of information for later and kept digging around in the same part until he found the controls for the ECHOeye. He found that it was standard Hyperion tech with the standard throttling and made quick work of disabling some of the limits on the eye’s hacking abilities.  
  
When he came back out, the assface with the gun was still struggling to find the trigger. Jack got the sinking feeling that the gun was produced by Hyperion. He couldn’t wait to get back up there just so he could throw whoever was responsible for designing that piece of crap out of an airlock.  
  
He shook his head. This wasn’t the time to think about murder. Well, it kind of was, just not in that way. “I enhanced your ECHOeye, so hack something and get rid of this guy for me, okay, cupcake?”  
  
Rhys glanced over at him from the corner of his eye, gave a subtle nod, and after a glance at the assface, that was still too preoccupied with his gun to notice his prisoners acting weird, Jack saw him activate his ECHOeye and stare intently at the car in front of him.  
  
Jack watched as a smirk crept along the kid’s face and a few seconds later, just when assface lifted his gun back up, the car sprang to live, took a sharp turn and came hurtling towards the four men. Rhys and Vaughn managed to jump out of the way in time. Jack did not have to concern himself with physical dangers any longer, so he stood still, spread out his arms and laughed as he let the car pass through him. Only to laugh even harder when he saw assface lying face first on the ground.  
  
As he jeered and pointed at him, he noticed Rhys’ metal arm following his movements, and as he realized that he had accidentally taken control of the limb, he did the only reasonable thing in that situation.  
  
“Haha! Why are you punching yours-”  


* * *

  
When he came back to, he found himself on the back of a flying loader. He looked down to find Rhys and Vaughn clutched in the hands of the loader and to hear the end of Rhys’ sentence. “- fucking idiot.”  
  
“Obviously,” Vaughn retorted with a glance at Rhys’ forehead.  
  
“No. Well… Yes.” Rhys reached up and rubbed at his forehead with his organic hand, looking down at the metal one with a pout. “I just realized that we basically told Vasquez where we’re going. We should have gone to Old Haven immediately. Now he’s just gonna be there, waiting for us.”  
  
“Vasquez?” Jack leaned a bit further forward. “Who’s that? That the assface you ran over?”  
  
He watched Rhys flinch, gasp and fall into a coughing fit.  
  
Vaughn looked at his friend with concern. “Rhys! Are you okay?”  
  
The kid gathered himself quickly. “Yep, I’m fine. Just, those continual hits to the head can’t be good for my wiring. _God fucking damnit, why does he always show up at the most annoying times?”_  
  
“Well, maybe if you weren’t hitting yourself...” Vaughn responded, ignoring the last part of Rhys’ statement.  
  
Jack completely forewent the act of holding onto the loader, as he essentially floated next to Rhys, and leaned in with a snarl. “I sure as fuck hope for you that you were talking about your buddy assface”  
  
_Oh, shit_ , was Rhys’ only response.  
  
“So you were talking about me? Just you wait until I have a body again, princess. And until then I’ll-”  
  
_You can hear me_ , Rhys said.  
  
“What?”  
  
_You can totally hear the words that are coming from… being produced by me right now_ , Rhys continued his rambling.  
  
Jack crossed his arms and leaned back, out of the kid’s space, with a frown. “You really do have some wires loose, huh, pumpkin?”  
  
_No, I… Ugh, are you even looking at me?_  
  
He had been, the man in front of him wasn’t too hard on the eyes after all. Not that he’d let him know that. “Can’t say I have been. No.”  
  
Rhys let out a soft sigh. Quiet enough that Vaughn didn’t seem to notice. _So you don’t even realize that I’m not properly talking to you?_  
  
Jack spent another few seconds staring at the motionless face until he realized that it was completely motionless. “Right.” Not moving his moving his mouth at all. “Wait, so I’m reading your thoughts? Well, this could be fun.”  
  
Rhys quirked an eyebrow.  
  
“Or it could be incredibly boring now that I think about it.” Jack turned around to survey the ground below and in front of them, finding nothing but desert all the way to the horizon. “So how long are you planning on flying?”  
  
_A few hours at least._  
  
Jack let out a bored sigh, letting himself float back up to the loader’s back, starfishing across it, before he elected to take a nap and retreated back to his in between space in Rhys’ brain.  


* * *

  
When he woke up, Jack found himself stood back on solid ground, looking out over the desert, the sun just starting to vanish at the horizon.  
  
He looked down when he heard a groan at his feet and found Rhys sitting on the floor, his organic hand going up to his forehead, again.  
  
“Hit your head there, princess?”  
  
“Jesus fucking shit!” Rhys leapt up with a yell, flinching down at the last second to avoid hitting his head on the same low cave ceiling as before, if the blood on it was any indication.  
  
“Eloquent.”  
  
The kid looked a mess, bags under his eyes and ashen face, he seemed to be just about ready to pass out.  
  
He glanced over at the back of the cave, where Vaughn was sleeping next to a small fire and a powered down loader, and hissed, _What are you doing here?_  
  
Jack managed to stay quiet and look down at him condescendingly for all of two seconds. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m always here? Literally always. Maybe not quite as present, but I’m always around. I live in your brain, I have no choice but to be around.”  
  
_Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever shut up_ , Rhys hissed with another glance back at Vaughn.  
  
“He still can’t hear me.”  
  
Rhys looked looked away with a grimace.  
  
Jack took a few steps out of the mouth of the cave and into the desert. When he turned around he found that the cave was part of a single large, free standing boulder. He couldn’t see anything but desert in any direction. He had to give it to them, they had picked a good spot. Dry, easy to keep warm, and it wasn’t very likely that any bandits would run into them this far out. Not that the kid would know that, of course. “So, what are you doing now, pumpkin? Keeping watch?”  
  
Rhys stepped out after him and sleepily glanced around at their rapidly darkening surroundings. “Nah, I was gonna go to bed now. Why would I keep watch? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”  
  
Jack made sure he kept his back turned to the kid as a smirk crept onto his face. “That doesn’t stop the bandits,” he said as seriously as he could, trying to keep the humor out of his voice.  
  
“If anything I would have been more concerned about Vasquez. But bandits? Out here?”  
  
Jack fought to keep a hard edge to his voice and not break into laughter immediately. “Yeah, bandits. Those bastards are everywhere on this godforsaken planet. The assface would still have been the lesser evil. At least he is supposed to bring your body back. The bandits won’t hesitate. They’ll tear you to shreds, eat the bits and sell the rest. Literally. I’ve seen them work. It’s kinda impressive, actually.”  
  
Rhys stared at the sand in front of him in quiet contemplation for a moment, before he turned to Jack and said, “Yeah, you’re fucking with me.”  
  
Jack spun around and sputtered indignantly. “Rhys!” His hand went up to clutch at his chest. “Rhysie, Rhysie, Rhysie, Rhysie, Rhysie!” He paused and took a deep breath, that he didn’t technically need, what with being a hologram. “I would _never_.”  
  
Rhys squinted at him with a contemplating look, giving Jack a quick once over. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re fucking with me.”  
  
Jack managed to stay stone faced for another moment before he broke out into a grin. “What gave it away?”  
  
Rhys shrugged as he suppressed a yawn and turned back to the cave entrance. “I dunno. Just a hunch. You do live in my brain, you know?” He sat down at the mouth of the cave, just barely below the roof, opposite of Jack, who stood looking out over the desert, as far removed from his sleeping friend as possible.  
  
“So, once we get you back up there and into a body of your own...” Rhys trailed off, interrupted by a yawn. “Once you’re back...” he tried again, and failed.  
  
Jack looked down at him with an amused smirk. “You will be my first Lieutenant.”  
  
A goofy smile spread on Rhys’ face, his head fell on his chest and he was out like a light.  


* * *

   
Jack had felt himself falling asleep in time with Rhys, but snapped back to attention only seconds later at an out of place sound.  
  
He looked around and found himself staring into a brightly lit room, very unlike the dark desert he had just been in. And judging from the sleek interior design and lack of grime, very unlike any place on Pandora.  
  
In fact most of his vision was currently taken up by a giant window looking out to the surface of Elpis. Not quite unlike the view from Helios.  
  
He turned around, taking in potted plants, a water feature and an unnecessarily large desk in the back of the room, close to the window.  
  
At the desk, his back turned towards Jack, a young man. For once he actually wasn’t holding his face in pain, so it took Jack walking around him and bending down at his side to be sure it was actually Rhys.  
  
Rhys had no idea that Jack was even there, as he was preoccupied with another young man, who was currently situated in his lap and grinding down on him furiously.  
  
Jack loudly cleared his throat, but went unnoticed. As hot as it was, Jack wasn’t really here for that, so he reached out and pushed Rhys’ shoulder, almost managing to shove him off the chair completely.  
  
Both men stopped dead in their tracks and looked up at him incredulously. He growled at the one he didn’t recognize and the stranger hurriedly slipped off of Rhys’ lap and made for the door.  
  
He waited for the echo of the door slamming shut to stop, before he glanced back down to Rhys, who looked to be a mix of shell shocked and furious. “What the fuck are you doing here?!”  
  
“We already had this conversation, princess, I’m always here-” Only then did Jack realize that none of that should have happened. No one else could see him and he sure as shit couldn’t usually touch anyone, not even Rhys. “Wait.”  
  
Rhys let out a long suffering sigh, let his head hit the back of the chair and stared at the ceiling pitifully. “Didn’t you do enough of this in the last three years? I thought you’d wanted to stop.”  
  
“Three years? I’ve only been stuck in your head for a few days.” Something didn’t add up here. Where were they even?  
  
A devious smirk crept onto Jack’s face. This had to be a dream. And not in the too good to be true kind of way. Now this could be fun.  
  
He focused on the feeling of control over Rhys, like stretching some unused muscles. He saw a twitch in the metal hand, heard some word fragments from Rhys’ mind going a thousand miles a minute, felt the annoyance radiating off of him and with a start he felt something else snap into place.  
  
Jack gave the boy a quick once over, conjured up the image of what he might look like naked, and just like that, he was.  
  
He saw Rhys’ eyes snap down to his crotch, where an erection was standing up proudly.  
  
Rhys’ face turned into a confused frown and his gaze flickered in between his crotch and Jack for a bit. “This is a dream, isn’t it?”  
  
A grin curled the side of Jack’s lips as he stepped closer. “What gave it away?”  
  
Rhys looked down at his crotch somewhat transfixed. “I uh..” he mumbled.  
  
“The magically vanishing clothes?” Jack continued on in his teasing, ignoring Rhys’ stuttered attempts at an explanation.  
  
Rhys’ eyes snapped back up to Jack. “Y-yes, that.” He rubbed his organic hand over his face. “Okay, so it hasn’t been three years and, oh fuck.” Seemingly only now realizing the situation he was in, the kid struggled to awkwardly cover his crotch with his hands.  
  
Jack’s smile widened at the sight and then vanished completely. He looked at the door where the stranger had vanished with a frown and turned back to Rhys, arms crossed and head slightly tilted. “You know, pumpkin, with how much of a fanboy you are, I would have assumed that I would feature in this somewhat more prominently.”  
  
Rhys grit his teeth and looked up at Jack with a grimace. “It’s not that kind of obsession, okay?”  
  
“Come on, kiddo.” He leaned into Rhys’ personal space. “You can’t tell me you’ve never thought of this before.”  
  
Rhys tried and failed to merge with the chair that stopped him from leaning further away from Jack. “I can, actually.”  
  
Jack gripped his bare thighs, almost closing the distance between them, his breath hot on Rhys’ lips. “Okay then. But you can’t tell me that you don’t want this.”  
  
Rhys stared back at him defiantly. “I don’t want this.”  
  
Jack felt a twinge of lust. Not from himself. Okay, kinda from himself. But mostly from the young man below his hands. “Ah ah, Rhysie. You can’t lie to me. It’s like you keep forgetting that I _live in your brain._ ”  
  
Rhys’ cheeks turned a bright pink and his eyes went to the floor, resolutely avoiding eye contact with Jack.  
  
“Come here, pumpkin.” Jack’s hands wandered up Rhys’ thighs until he grabbed his wrists and pulled his arms to either side. He moved forward until he was straddling Rhys’ lap, his larger frame looming over the boy below him.  
  
Rhys gasped at the unexpected contact, his eyes snapping up to dumbly stare at Jack’s chest. “What are you-”  
  
“Listen, kitten,” Jack’s right hand left Rhys’ arm and instead went up to grasp at his jaw and lift his chin up. “If I’m gonna be here anyway, I might as well play a leading role.”  
  
He scooted forward a bit, planting himself more firmly in Rhys’ lap, and rolled his hips forward, eliciting an involuntary moan. He let go Rhys’ other wrist in favor of placing his hand against Rhys’ side, pushing him further into the chair. The other hand left his jaw, traveled around his head and came to a rest in his hair, where it was used to pull him into a kiss. He felt the kid tense up below him and saw the mistrust in his eyes.  
  
He was expecting this to be a trap. Jack wasn’t quite sure whether he should be relieved that the kid did seem to have some kind of survival instinct, be insulted that the kid seemed to have so little trust in him after all this time, or feel bad about making the kid so wary of him.  
  
Seeing as Handsome Jack didn’t ever feel bad about anything, taking into consideration how bad the kid’s survival instincts were in every other situation, and given that there was no reason anyone should trust him ever, he settled on being mildly miffed.  
  
Nonetheless he broke the kiss, still staying close to his face, brought his hand back around to cup his cheek and nipped at his lips. “Come on, cupcake. Nothing wrong with a little bit of fun.” He rolled his hips and all potential protests were stifled by a startled low moan. He took the opportunity to pick the kiss back up and lick into the kid’s mouth.  
  
Rhys seemed to accept it for now, his synthetic hand coming up to grab at Jack’s hair and the organic one pawing at Jack’s back, trying to find a way beneath his clothes.  
  
“There you are, kitten,” Jack murmured into the kiss. He decided to lend the kid a hand and with a thought he removed most of his outer layers, leaving him in his pants, a sweater, and nothing more.  
  
He brought his hand down from Rhys’ side to undo the button on his pants and pull them down to free his own hardening cock.  
  
Rhys took the invitation. Kissing back lazily, he gave Jack full control over his mouth. His hand on Jack’s back moved under his shirt and scratched at the skin below. He started to push his hips up into Jack, hesitantly at first, and then with increasing confidence and speed.  
  
Jack swallowed all the little noises Rhys made, returning some moans of his own. He relished in how quickly he had brought the kid to this point. Not even having to resort to threats or subterfuge.  
  
Jack enjoyed the wet heat of Rhys’ mouth, the warm hand trying to find purchase at his back, and the hot, rhythmic friction against his cock. He hadn’t really been able to feel much of anything, ever since he came back, so this was a pleasant change of pace.  
  
The hand at his back started to wander down. He felt it slip into his pants and grab his ass.  
  
And, okay, the kid was having a bit too much fun here.  
  
Not that he wasn’t enjoying it himself, but the kid didn't strictly need to know that.  
  
Jack broke the kiss to nuzzle at Rhys’ jaw, trailing soft kisses up to his ear, brushing his lips along his cheekbone, grazing his cheek with his teeth and biting down hard until he drew blood.  
  
With a pained yell, Rhys stopped his rutting, withdrew his hand from Jack’s pants, and brought it up to Jack’s throat to push him off of him.  
  


* * *

  
Jack had to squint and avert his eyes when he came face to face with the rising morning sun. He looked down to the side, where a heavily panting Rhys was thrashing around with one arm, while the other was clutching his cheek.  
  
After a moment he seemingly recognized where he was. He glanced up at Jack with a wary and betrayed look.  
  
A lazy grin spread across Jack’s face. “Did I just bite you awake, princess?”  
  
Rhys didn't dignify him with an answer. He sat up with a huff and flinched when he accidentally touched his crotch.  
  
The grin on Jack’s face widened at that. “Well, have fun with that, kiddo.”  
  
He started straight up cackling, when he heard Vaughn stirring awake, and heard Rhys mentally curse at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I know what you're gonna say. "But, Flummi! You tagged this as Trans Rhys! Why does he have a dick?!"  
> Shush. That was a dream. Wait for it.
> 
> Other than that, let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack refused to believe it. Who had this much bad luck anyway? Well, this kid apparently, he answered his own question, as he found Rhys with another gun trained on his stupid idiot face.  
  
The wielder of the gun, the same assface as last time, seemed a lot more competent this time around. At least he had figured out where the trigger was on this one.  
  
There wasn’t much Jack could do without Rhys’ consent. And he wouldn't get him to consent to anything that would get his little friends in danger. So Jack sauntered along behind Rhys, as he was being marched down a hallway into the center of what Jack gathered to be an abandoned Atlas facility.  
  
After making the pleasant discovery that he actually knew assface from his past, he found the kid in even deeper shit than before and started to question what Rhys had done to anger the powers of fate.  
  
He didn't complain too much, because he at least got to spend quite a nice few minutes murdering their shared enemies with flying drones.  
  
He had also, in the process, managed to get the kid to let him in deeper.  
  
He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, but he sure as shit knew how Rhys felt about it. And how he felt about pretty much anything else.  
  
It seemed like the deeper access to his subsystems also allowed Jack deeper access into Rhys’ psyche.  
  
Where before he only got the surface thoughts that were more or less directed at him anyway, he now got everything. Or at least so he assumed. Either way it was enough to make him want to ram his face into a wall. Who knew there would be so much mundane shit going on in the kid's brain?  
  
It made their mental conversations a lot harder, with Jack having to deal with what felt like twelve different thoughts at once.

* * *

   
They were on the move again. In the girls' caravan on the way to the next Atlas facility.  
  
After making a complete ass of himself, Rhys excused himself and climbed to the top of the moving vehicle, Jack following suit.  
  
“Kiddo, we gotta talk.”  
  
Rhys turned his head towards him and made an inquisitive noise.  
  
Jack felt a slight pull in his chest, where he could sense the kid’s mistrust, but for the first time in the last few hours it was quiet. He closed his eyes and with a sigh, took a moment to appreciate the blessed silence-  
  
_Weird. Whatdoeshewant?Whatsupwithathena?Dotheyknoweachother?Ithoughtsheonlyhatesatlas?Orisiteverybigcorporation?Didjackfuckwithherpersonally?Whataretherobotsdoinguphere?Dotheygetcold?_  
  
“Rhys!”  
  
Rhys cocked his head his eyes not leaving Jack’s. _Whatintheactualshit-_  
  
“Are. You. Aware. That I can actually hear everything that’s going on in your head right now?”  
  
Rhys’ eyes narrowed. _Ohshit.Howlonghasthisbeengoingon?Whathasheheard?Iknewmindreaderswereaseriousproblem!Suckitryan!Ohnowhatifheknows?Wellshithealreadysawthedreamsowhatcouldpossiblyhappen?Thatdreamwasprettytamecomparedtosomeoftheshityouthink!Argh. Stop. Ifyouthinkaboutitnowhewillknow. You don’t want him to know. Just stop thinking. Stop thinking. No, don’t think about that._  
  
And just like that Jack’s entire vision filled up with dicks.  
  
“Kiddo, whatever you’re doing. Stop it.”  
  
“Oh shit. I’m sorry. I just-”  
  
_Ohfuckheisprobablygettingallofthat.Ohnojuststopitstopitnow!_  
  
The pictures in his head vanished for a second only to come back with a vengeance. Apparently Rhys was now rethinking every single naughty thought he’s ever had, flickering in and out of Jack’s vision, every one only staying a fraction of a second.  
  
Jack was now seeing an unrelenting flood of images, some hot, some strange, some impossible, and hearing his own thoughts, and the kid’s thoughts, both conscious and subconscious, as well as the kid’s actual talking. He felt like his brain was gonna explode. He felt a hot wave of shame rise up and it wasn’t his, it was Rhys’, goddammit.  
  
Handsome Jack didn’t beg. For anything, ever, in his entire life. He voiced his wants and complaints in a dignified and vaguely threatening way and-  
  
“No! No! Stop it! Please! Make it stop!” His hands went up to his hair, in a futile attempt to keep his head from feeling like up was bursting, as he tried not to drop to his knees.  
  
The pain continued for a few seconds, before the feeling in his stomach twisted and turned sour, kinda like regret but not quite, and dammit, it still wasn’t his own.  
  
And then everything stopped. The noise in his head vanished abruptly. Replaced by a gentle humming, both from Rhys’ actual throat and in his mind. The mental version sounded very different from any sound he’d ever heard Rhys produce and if he’d had the patience to actually think about it, he might have assumed that it was a memory of a mother or a sister.  
  
But as it is, he was just glad that it had stopped. It was over and he slid down the rest of the way, now sitting a few inches above the roof of the caravan. He took his hands out of his hair and let them rest at the sides of his face, looking up at Rhys. “How about we don’t ever do that again, huh, cupcake?”  
Rhys’ mind went blank for a second as he focused on listening. Jack felt him process his words, before he nodded and went back to humming.

* * *

  
Rhys had been quiet the rest of the ride. Focusing on fixing the drone, he had lovingly named Dumpy, after Jack gave it to him.  
  
When it was Rhys’ turn to drive, he concentrated on nothing but the road in front of him and whatever song he was currently humming under his breath.  
  
Jack didn’t get much thoughts from him at all and only the occasional feeling of frustration at his inability to fix Dumpy’s voice modulator or happiness when the drone flew again and when he was humming a song that would evoke the occasional flashes of images of faces and places Jack had never seen before but was sure meant something to the kid.  
  
Jack appreciated it. Really, he did. So much so that he considered not immediately strangling the kid to death at the first chance he got.

* * *

  
Over the few days they’d been on the road, Jack had taken some time to focus on his connection to Rhys’ thoughts and figured out a way to suppress the bulk of it, only letting the strongest thoughts through. It was still more than before, but it was manageable now.  
  
He flickered into existence to the sounds of running water. He turned around to find Rhys naked and wet, hand at his forehead, and swearing at the faucet.  
  
They didn’t ever stop driving. At least not for long. They didn’t have the time. Not with Hyperion on their heels.  
  
But at least the caravan had a convenient bath tub with an inconveniently placed faucet. They didn’t use it much, because they didn’t exactly have unlimited amounts of water, so it was really an unlikely coincidence that Jack would pop in exactly when Rhys was taking a bath, but apparently that was his life now.  
  
Jack took the time before Rhys noticed him to take in the full extent of the tattoos that were usually covered. The twin scars on Rhys’ chest were almost lost under the ink. Jack thought they looked vaguely familiar but he didn’t have time to ponder that thought as Rhys let out a startled yelp when he noticed him.  
  
Jack glanced down through the clear water and got ready to make a snide comment but he got interrupted before he got that far.  
  
_Holy f- Oh shit! Oh no!_  
  
Rhys’ hands flew down to cover his crotch. Jack felt his fear, shame, and dread boiling in his gut and saw it plainly on Rhys’ face.  
  
_Fuck off._  
  
Welp, something was wrong and if memory served this would be over quicker if he tried to help.  
  
Jack sat down across from Rhys in the tub, legs sticking out the tub walls, but not caring about that. “What’s up?” he asked, his voice tense from the fear he felt radiating off of Rhys.  
  
_Leave. Go away. I don’t want you- You can’t-_  
  
Jack felt his body go hot and cold at the same time. Both of their bodies he assumed. And something tight coiled in his gut. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to puke or cry and he had no idea what he was actually feeling about this situation. Completely overrun by the kid’s feelings, he couldn’t keep the concern out of his voice. “Hey, what’s wrong?”  
  
Rhys wouldn’t meet his eyes, his breathing became faster and instead of an answer he got a choked off whine. He saw something wet in Rhys’ eyes and felt full blown panic grip his heart.  
  
“Hey, hey. It’s- it’s okay. It’s fine. I- I assume it’s fine.” He hated the tremor in his voice but he was pacified by the fact that it wasn’t caused by his own fear.  
  
_No. Can’t. He can’t see. Not him. Anyone but him._  
  
At that Jack could actually feel his own hurt over Rhys’ fear for a second before it got drowned out again.  
  
“Can’t see what? Rhys? What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are you dying? You feel like you’re dying? Please let me help. Can I help?” Jack noticed he was babbling, but the sudden fear had hit him hard and he couldn’t stop himself.  
  
_He’ll judge me. He’ll never respect me. He’ll kill me. He’ll make me kill myself. Can’t._  
  
He wanted to calm down, but that wouldn’t happen if the kid didn’t calm down. “What? Why would I kill you? I- I wouldn’t. I can’t. Did you forget? You die, I die. I wouldn’t hurt you. It’s okay. It’s fine. Really, it’s fine. I won’t hurt you. I don’t even know what could be so bad. There’s- there’s nothing that would make me hurt you.”  
  
It seemed to calm Rhys down. He took a few deep breaths. Jack felt the fear fading, something still stinging in his chest.  
  
It took him another few moments but eventually Rhys moved his shaking hands away from his crotch and instead clutched them in front of his abdomen, all the while resolutely staring at the same spot on the floor.  
  
Jack looked down at the decided lack of dick for a few seconds. “That is different than your dream.”  
  
He felt the fear slamming back into him full force and saw the kid’s entire body shaking.  
  
Well, wasn’t this just a shitshow.  
  
He leaned forward to put his own shaking hand against Rhys’ cheek. Or he would if he could. As it was, it was just kinda hovering there. “Hey, look at me, kiddo.” He forced a smile on his face and on his voice, despite the lingering fear. “It’s fine. It’s okay. I don’t know what your problem is here. Well, I know what one of your problems is. But there’s no way in hell I’m gonna think less of you for that.”  
  
He tried to move even closer and pull him into a hug. Failing, of course, but he still stayed there, phasing halfway through Rhys’ body, and staying silent for a minute.  
  
“So, you’re-”  
  
_… Trans._  
  
“Yeah, I figured.” Jack hesitated a minute, before he added “Sorry I found out like this. That couldn’t have been too pleasant.”  
  
A startled laugh wracked Rhys’ body, but Jack felt no real joy or humor behind it.  
  
They sat there for a while. After a minute Jack started humming the song he’d heard from Rhys, as best he could, and didn’t stop until he felt Rhys’ emotions return to a more normal level. Or as normal as it got after a confrontation like that.

A dry chuckle wrenched itself from Jack’s throat and he shook his head minutely. He felt the blood drain from his face and heard Rhys’ breath hitch, so he made sure to clarify as soon as possible. “I don’t know if it’s even possible for me to have a heart attack in this form, but you almost just gave me one over not having a dick.”  
  
Rhys’ entire body twitched with the huffed laugh startled out of him, this time he felt a lot calmer. They stayed like that for another few moments before Jack slumped backwards into the tub, completely exhausted.

* * *

  
Jack found himself in the same office from before, where this time Rhys was standing at the window looking out over Elpis, his back turned to the room.  
  
“Rhysie!” Jack called out.  
  
Rhys flinched and spun around. “Where’d you come from?”  
  
Jack huffed out a laugh and walked over to Rhys. “I never leave.” He put an arm around Rhys’ shoulders. “We’ve talked about this.”  
  
They weren’t in the caravan, and really Rhys had no business being quite so solid under Jack’s hands. Or rather Jack’s hands shouldn’t have been able to touch him. Either way, Jack knew where they were.  
  
“Another dream, huh?”  
  
“I guess,” Rhys said.  
  
“Noice.” Jack leaned down to press a kiss to Rhys’ lips, his hand wandering down the man’s body, tracing the lines of his stomach through his shirt, on the way into his pants.  
  
He was swiftly stopped when Rhys caught his wrist. “D-don’t. I- uh...”  
  
“Huh?” Jack felt something cold creeping up in his chest. “Oh, for f- Is this about what happened this morning? Because you really shouldn’t let that put a damper on our relationship.”  
  
“But I-”  
  
“No no no no no. No buts!” Jack was pretty sure he didn’t technically have a heart and still he could feel something in his chest that was just about to burst. He withdrew his wrist from Rhys’ hand and brought his arms up around Rhys’ shoulders, pulling the kid close to his chest in a tight hug. “It’s fine. You’re fine.” He nuzzled his face into Rhys’ hair and pressed some kisses to his jaw.  
  
The kid took a deep breath and Jack could feel him calm down.  
  
Jack’s hand traveled down towards its previous destination and was stopped once again.  
  
Jack cut Rhys’ rambling short with a click of his tongue. “I know. I already know. It’s fine. You’re fine.”  
  
“I’m... fine,” Rhys repeated, sounding not quite sure about that.  
  
“There you go. That’s the stuff.”  
  
“But I can’t- I don’t have-”  
  
Jack’s hand came up to cup Rhys’ jaw and he turned the kid’s face toward himself. “Hey, look at me, Rhysie. I have like unlimited powers in here, okay? It’s like lucid dreaming but better.” Jack turned his forearm into a crab claw with a single thought. It was kinda freaky and a very weird feeling but still he waved it in front of Rhys’ face to make a point.  
  
Rhys tried to duck away from the claw in his face. “Can you maybe not do that? That’s really weird.”  
  
“Yeah, it is,” Jack agreed with a wry grin. “My point, however, is that as long as we’re here I can make everything you want a reality. Or… not… I mean, it is still a dream... So, what’s it gonna be? I could potentially put anything you want in your pants. Sky’s the limit. Do you want a crocodile in your pants? ‘Cause I could put a crocodile in your pants.”  
  
“Please don’t put a crocodile in my pants. And please turn your hand back.”  
  
“Alright, no crocodiles. Duly noted. But like… Dicks? No dicks?”  
  
“Well, I do prefer having a dick over not having a dick...”  
  
“Dicks it is.” Jack waved his, once again human, hand over Rhys’ crotch. He strictly speaking didn’t have to do that, but he was all about that dramatic effect.  
  
Rhys tentatively pushed his pants down to reveal his newly acquired, or technically regained if one were to count the previous dream, currently flaccid dick.  
  
“Okay, listen.”  
  
Rhys seemed to be preoccupied with poking at his dick and giggling when it moved.  
  
“Rhys?”  
  
The kid’s head snapped up and he had the decency to look mildly embarrassed.  
  
Jack shook his head at the kid’s antics. “Listen, this weird, uh, connection is still there and I can feel that you’re not about this right now.”  
  
“I. uhm-” Rhys looked back and forth between his dick and Jack’s face. Clearly he wanted to argue for argument’s sake, but couldn’t actually come up with anything. It wasn’t like he could fool Jack.  
  
Jack turned halfway away from Rhys and patted his shoulder. “You have fun, or whatever. I’m just… gonna go. Now. Bye.”  
  
He made a conscious effort to withdraw from Rhys’ mind until he found himself looking down at the kid’s sleeping form, a faint smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will I ever stop writing uncomfortable coming out scenes? Probably not.
> 
> There will be actual boning in this. I promise. Just not yet.


	3. Chapter 3

When he wasn’t listening to Rhys’ humming or the others’ conversations, Jack had spent a relatively quiet few days in the in between space in Rhys’ mind. He’d also learned that his connection to Rhys’ inner workings grew stronger while he was in there, giving him more of an incentive to stay out.  
  
After a quick nap he flickered back into existence in a seriously weird jungle type thing that was apparently situated in the middle of a tundra. He trailed along, watching the party’s varying levels of amazement with idle curiosity.  
  
He felt the thoughts at the back of his mind, not his, the kid’s, revolving around the strange plants and he noticed Rhys actually stopping and taking a closer look far more often than any of his companions.  
  
Growing bored with the lack of anything happening, he stopped besides Rhys. Jack took a second to banish the shiteating grin from his face and leaned in a bit. “Ah, a purple wormtube,” he stated matter-of-factly.  
  
Rhys turned to him, one eyebrow raised. “You know your way around plants?”  
  
“Yup. Gotta know what’s gonna try to eat you down here.”  
  
Rhys squinted at him. His ECHOeye flashed a bright blue as he inspected the plant in question more closely. He turned back to Jack with a frown.  
  
Jack used his access to take control of Rhys’ eye and checked the article on the plant out for himself. It seemed like all the actual information had been replaced with whatever obvious bullshit Jack had come up with on the spot. He did nothing to hide his grin this time.  
  
_God, having him in my brain is getting more annoying by the second.  
  
_ “Can relate, kiddo.”  
  
_Ah, shit._

* * *

  
Handsome Jack did not get jealous. He didn’t appreciate other people playing with his toys, but he did not get jealous.  
  
If he wasn’t around as much while Rhys was busy with his lady friend then that was an utter coincidence and probably related to Rhys’ uncanny ability to get punched in the face at every possible opportunity.  
  
And if he was a bit rough with said lady friend then that was because she entirely deserved it. Presumably.  
  
He just had to take advantage of the situation, okay? It was… peculiar. He had gotten somewhat used to feeling again, vicariously through Rhys. But then Rhys fell, hitting his head hard and going out like a light. Usually that would lead to Jack being dragged into unconsciousness with him almost immediately. Instead he stayed out and felt a tingling at the back of his neck, drawing him closer to Rhys.  
  
Without any conscious thought, Jack had taken control of Rhys’ metal hand. The sensation spread across his body. He seemed to black out for a second and as he came back to, the kid was nowhere to be seen. His own head, however, hurt like hell. He brought his hand up to his forehead and flinched back when instead of glowing a soft translucent blue it was solid and made of metal.  
  
Now this could be fun.  
  
He said that a lot and it never came true, not since he met Rhys. But now the kid wasn’t there to get in his way or be boring as shit.  
  
He would probably bitch and moan about it afterwards, but that was for future-Jack to take care of.  
  
And even then, realistically… Those electric floaty jellyfish still looked angry. So realistically he was doing it to save both their hides. That was his story and he'd stick to it.  
  
He marched the kid's body up to his friends. Rhys' friends that is. Of course. And, he'd said it before and he'd say it again, he wasn't jealous. So when he made sexist comments and slapped a lady’s ass, knowing full well that she could kill him in a heartbeat, then that's just perfectly normal, standard, not-even-slightly-jealous Jack behavior. He was insulted that you would ever suggest otherwise. No way in hell did he care that the kid was the only one able to perceive him. And did he look like he gave a fuck that the only person aware of his existence would rather spend his time with someone else? No. No, he didn't. He'd fight you on this.

* * *

  
Jack didn’t remember getting punched in the face but when he returned Rhys was walking around on his own again all the same. Apparently some time had passed and apparently they were now looking for a way to get back to Helios. Finally. Oh, and apparently they were still looking for the parts of that Atlas project.  
  
They were having some problems coming up with a way to actually get back up there and then also not get shot immediately. He took some time to watch the idiots struggle and come up with one suicide mission after the other. However, he really really really didn’t like being on this planet and being tied to an idiot that didn’t know his way around said planet and almost got himself shot every few hours did nothing to help his unease.  
  
He spoke up from where he was stood, slightly behind and to the right of Rhys. “A unique piece of Atlas tech, you’re sure is on Helios? That’s gotta be in my office.”  
  
Rhys jumped at the voice, as he’d apparently forgotten already that Jack was there, although he seemed accustomed enough not to draw any attention to himself. He glanced over at Jack out of the corner of his eye. _Oh, hey, look who decided to be helpful.  
  
_ Jack stalked forward and leaned down until he was intently staring at the right side of Rhys’ face, an eyebrow raised up. “Do you want my help, or not? Because I can leave.”  
  
Rhys tensed up before he dropped his shoulders with a long sigh. _Are you sure?_  
  
Jack leaned back with a grin. “Nope. But it’s your best bet.”  
  
Rhys shook his head subtly. He leaned towards the radio to speak with his little buddy on the other side. “Tell Gortys to focus a scan on Handsome Jack’s office.”  
  
The radio came on with a complaint and an expression of doubt, that was interrupted by a chipper voice in the background. “Oh yeah, my sensor is definitely in Handsome Jack’s office.”  
  
Rhys turned his head back towards Jack with a longsuffering look, only to be greeted by a smug grin. “Well, great. We know where it is. We still have no idea how to get up there,” he said out loud, still looking at Jack.  
  
Rhys’ lady friend spoke up but Jack talked over her. “No idea how you’re gonna get up to Helios, but once you’re up there I can get you in my office no problem.”  
  
_I… guess that’s something._  
  
“Rhys, are you even listening to me?” And there his lady friend went again. This time he wasn’t in a position to slap her, so, having said his piece, Jack flickered back out.

* * *

  
Jack hadn’t thought about it much since the day they had first talked about it and they hadn’t exactly had much time for in depth discussions between outrunning Hyperion, Vallory, various bandits, and Vault Hunters. But this time Jack found himself sitting in the back of the caravan, rain pouring outside of the window, Rhys holding his forehead and glaring daggers at a wolfish looking guy, and he was reminded of the time before everything went quite as tits up.  
  
“Hey, Rhysie.”  
  
_Hag ag agh.  
  
_ “That was an interesting array of noises.” He leaned back and was only vaguely aware that his hair was now sticking through the wall. “Anyway, I’ve got a question for you.”  
  
Rhys looked over at him, eyebrow raised.  
  
“Remember that one time, when I caught you with your pants down? Of course you do. The view was distinctly different from the view in your dreams, right? So... that’s a thing.”  
  
Rhys’ face scrunched up and he looked like he was at a loss for words at that.  
  
“I mean. I’m just saying. Like, the main reason why I was confused is that difference there.”  
  
_Well, uhm. They’re dreams. They’re not real either way, so they might as well be presented in a way that doesn’t make me want to die._  
  
“You realize that I, like, own Helios, and that Helios has an amazing medical team?”  
  
_How do you mean?_  
  
“I’m just saying that we could make that one dream in particular become a reality.”  
  
Rhys’ mouth dropped open and he blinked repeatedly, but he stayed quiet otherwise.  
  
“If you manage to get me back up there, I’m gonna have to repay you somehow. So I figured...”  
  
At that Rhys’ brain seemed to finally work through the information properly, and Jack felt happiness bubble up in his chest. Rhys threw himself at Jack, in an attempt to wrap his arms around him, bounced off the couch and fell face first into the floor. Jack huffed at the kid’ giddiness, before he felt himself be pulled back into the kid’s head.

* * *

  
Jack floated along lazily as Rhys snuck around a small town next to an Atlas facility in the dead of night. “Watcha doing there?”  
  
“Jes-us. Fucking. Shit,” the kid hissed. “Don’t fucking do that.” He turned around and hastily checked his surroundings. _I don’t want to be eaten by bandits.  
  
_ As much as he hated to admit it, the kid had a point. It would be really inconvenient if his host was eaten by bandits. Maybe he shouldn’t startle the kid so much. Just so his meat prison didn’t die.  
  
Still. What the fuck. “Why’re you sneaking around in a bandit town?” Jack asked with what he hoped sounded like idle interest.  
  
_We came up with how we’re gonna get to Helios. The others are trying to get us a rocket from one of their friends. But Hyperion doesn’t really like me anymore so I have to get a disguise. And because they probably don’t know that Vasquez is dead, I’m gonna go get his body, pretend like it’s my corpse, and disguise as him, so they’ll let me in no questions asked. But some psycho took his face and now I'm looking for it.  
  
_ “Sounds surprisingly well thought out. Can’t wait to see how it all goes wrong. Stop!”  
  
Rhys froze at the command, his foot an inch away from a tripwire. As soon as he looked down, he stumbled backwards, tripped, and fell on his ass with a stifled yelp.  
  
Jack hovered over to him and actually got to his feet. He almost extended a hand to help Rhys up before he remembered that that wasn’t actually possible right now, so instead he went for putting his hands at his hips, chuckling, and shaking his head. “See, Rhysie? We make a good team.”  
  
Rhys got back to his feet with a huff, carefully took a wide step over the tripwire and went on his way.  
  
"So, that lady friend of yours-"  
  
_I'm kinda busy right now.  
  
_ "Should I be jealous? Is it actually a thing? It looks like it's a thing. But I'm not sure. ‘Cause I thought we were exclusive."  
  
Rhys paused in his efforts of sneaking up to a sleeping psycho to look back at Jack with a withering glare. _We're not dating.  
  
_ Jack carelessly walked over to the psycho, crouched down in front of him and studied the face he was wearing on his mask. "Well, yeah, obviously you aren't dating." He stood to walk over to the next psycho. "If you were I would have killed her a long time ago. Also, I wouldn't have to ask."  
  
Rhys snuck along behind him. _No, I meant I'm not dating you. You doing weird shit in my dreams doesn't count as being exclusive.  
  
_ Right. Of course. Jack knew that. Totally. He just wasn’t used to people who would push him out of bed. Although Rhys had expressed a certain disinterest before and he hadn't even been lying because Jack would have known. "Okay, but, about her..."  
  
_Oh my god! We're just friends! Why do you even care? … Wait.  
  
_ Oh no. Jack had a feeling where this might go.  
  
_Wait. Are you…  
  
_ Oh, he had a really bad feeling where this was gonna go. "Shut up," he hissed between clenched teeth.  
  
_Are you seriously..?_  
  
Goddammit, there it was. "I said shut up."  
  
_Oh, holy shit, you're actually serious about dating me?_  
  
Jack took a second to think about it. He wasn’t, right? He couldn’t. He was Handsome fucking Jack. He didn't just… Or did he?  
  
He really fucking didn't need this right now.  
  
"Nah, I'm just messing with ya, kid.”

* * *

  
Back on Helios Jack made three discoveries. The first thing was really just a confirmation of what he'd seen on Pandora, namely that Rhys was hella good with a stun baton. Secondly, Rhys was also hella good at finger gun fights.  
  
And as he was pondering how that might translate to a real gun fight, and how efficiently the kid could lay waste to his enemies, he discovered that - three - apparently getting boners was reserved to Rhys' dreams and didn't happen while Jack was a hologram.  
  
Sure, looking at Rhys while he was disguised as Assquez didn't really help the objectivity of the research, but that's what fantasies are for.  
At least the voice modulator broke, so he didn't have to listen to that weirdness anymore.  
  
“Heya, Rhysie.”  
  
To be fair, he only noticed the jump in Rhys’ shoulders because he was looking for it.  
  
Rhys waited until a bunch of his coworkers passed by him, and he was relatively alone in the corridor. “Jack. What are you doing here?”  
  
“Ooh… This and that. Just checking in to see how my favorite boy is doing.”  
  
Rhys turned his head to the side, looking at the wall opposite Jack. “I don’t know about that. But _I’m_ just about to get to the maintenance shaft of the trapdoor. From there it’s straight to your office and then you’re finally free.”  
  
“Why don't I believe it's gonna be that easy?”

* * *

  
It had in fact been that easy.  
  
Jack was impressed.  
The pandoran bandits and the idiot kid had only fucked up slightly, and he and Rhys had managed to get into his office with relative ease.  
  
From there getting out of the kid’s brain had been simple enough.  
  
Transplanting him into a new body had taken them slightly more work. But they'd managed.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack was happy as could be, being physical again. Being heard again. Oh, how he'd missed being heard. Being able to move on his own accord, not tied to the stupid kid’s stupid decisions. Not constantly flickering in and out of existence. It was maybe the best thing ever.  
  
He had spent the last few days assessing the state of Hyperion, deeming it completely fucking horrible, and had used the larger part of the day planning improvements and firing people left and right.  
  
As one of his first official acts as the once again CEO of Hyperion, he had allowed the pandoran bandits to get back to their shitty planet with the last piece of their robot. Sure, opening a Vault sounded nice, but he really didn't feel like it, and it wasn't like he couldn't go down and steal their spoils.  
  
His next official act was to put the kid back to his old job. He hadn’t seen Rhys since then and he was glad to finally not have the kid’s voice in his brain 24/7.

* * *

  
That night he fell into his old bed in his old apartment, enjoying the feeling of his new body, just the ability to feel anything in general, emotions that were unquestionably his own, and thoughts that came from nowhere but his own mind.  
  
The apartment was quiet. Just his own breathing and the ticking of a clock, slowly grating on his nerves.   
He rolled over and grabbed the gun from the bedside table.  
  
After the shot rang out he dropped the gun back down, rolling onto his back with a contented sigh.  
  
Just his breathing now.  
  
Somehow this was worse.  
  
He got up with a huff, stalked over to the living room and plopped down on the sofa, TV remote in hand. It was marginally better, but not quite what he needed.  
  
No way. This couldn’t be real.  
  
It was, wasn't it?

* * *

  
It didn’t get better with time.  
  
In fact it might have gotten worse.  
  
He’d already killed seventeen people that day although it wasn’t even lunch time yet and he was still full of restless energy.  
  
Now that he’d gotten everything back into working order and to a semblance of normalcy, and had killed everyone he could properly justify killing, he was bored and doing work just wasn’t cutting it. Just like his apartment, his office was too big, too empty, and too quiet.  
  
Time to go, find someone new to terrorize. After his return he’d had a constant loop of messages and announcements featuring his face running on every available screen on Helios, but it couldn’t hurt to put the fear of god in his employees in person.

* * *

  
After an unsatisfying round of _Kick The Puppy_ Jack made his way back around the offices, through the Hub of Heroism, and he was halfway to the elevator to his office when he froze on the spot as he spotted a familiar glint of Hyperion yellow metal at one of the lunch tables.  
  
And he’d been doing such a good job avoiding the kid.  
  
Not that he had to. It was his goddamn space station, he could be wherever he damn well pleased.  
Wherever he pleased just so happened to be as far away from the kid as possible.  
  
But now it was too late. Vaughn was sitting across from Rhys and judging by the way his eyes almost popped out of his head, he must have noticed Jack. And even if he hadn’t, half of Helios had seen Jack stride into the room. He could hardly just turn around and look like he’d made a mistake. No sir.  
  
Ah, fuck it.  
  
He stepped closer and sat down on the bench, sliding up next to Rhys and slipping an arm around his shoulders. “Heya, kiddo. Whatcha up to these days?”  
  
Rhys, who had apparently completely overlooked his friend’s alarmed face, jumped and spat his apple juice halfway across the table.  
  
Jack looked down to his juice covered hand and wiped it on Rhys’ jacket. “Gross.”  
  
After he got done coughing up the part of the juice he’d breathed in, Rhys turned to Jack. “Well, shit. Look who’s still alive. Been a while since you’ve done that.”  
  
“Ah, well, ya know, busy running a space station and whatnot.”  
  
Rhys nodded and shot him a knowing smirk that Jack didn’t approve of.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Nothing. Just… If I didn’t know better I would almost assume you were avoiding me.”  
  
The kid was too goddamn observant. “Good thing you know better, else I’d have to shoot you.”  
  
“Sure you would.” Rhys raised his organic hand and brushed it against Jack’s face, coming away with red fingers. “Do I wanna know?”  
  
Jack rubbed at his own mask, still sticky with blood. “Uh, that would be the head of accounting.” He leaned in to Rhys conspiratorially. “He doesn’t have a head anymore.”  
  
Rhys burst into a startled laugh at that.  
  
Jack noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye, and his head swiveled around immediately. “You there, glasses.”  
  
Vaughn froze where he’d scooted halfway off the bench in an attempt to quietly get away.  
  
“Where do you think you’re going?”

Vaughn mumbled some excuses that went completely unheard.

Jack reached out across the table to pinch Vaughn’s cheek. “Don’t think I forgot about my buddy Muscles. You helped to get me back here as well. Not as much as Rhysie over here.” He used the arm still around Rhys’ shoulders to pull him closer and give him a squeeze. ”In fact nowhere near as much as him, but, eh, you tried. So, you get your reward. I hereby declare you... uh... head of accounting and also... assistant vice bunker master. Now get the hell out of here.”

Vaughn scurried off in a hurry and had vanished in the crowd before Jack could finish his sentence.

“Assistant vice bunker master?” Rhys asked with a smile in his voice.

Jack pulled Rhys over so he could rest his bloody cheek on his head, and closed his eyes. “I saw him bunker mastering for the girls. The kid’s good at it. And you never know when you need a good bunker master.”

Rhys continued eating, completely unfazed by his boss being wrapped halfway around him. “Fair enough. He _is_ deceptively good at narrating. Knows his rules. Can calculate damage real quick. I feel like for some of his campaign arcs he bites off a bit more than he can chew, but he's been getting better.”

Jack let out a small sigh. Finally some peace and quiet. And somebody he didn't want to push out of an airlock. “You didn’t answer before. What _have_ you been up to since we got back?”

“Uh, well, ya know, this and that...” Rhys started talking timidly at first, but when he wasn’t interrupted he started getting into explanations and small rants about coworkers, weird bugs, and other trivialities of life.

Jack occasionally made some inquisitive noises, encouraging Rhys to continue talking, as he felt himself relax.

“Uh, uh, uhm. Excuse me? Uhm. Handsome Jack? Sir?”

Fuck. Goddammit. God fucking dammit.

It was a long day for janitorial.  
 

* * *

   
Jack had spent the morning finding the ones responsible for producing and distributing the useless gun that had put the fear of god in Rhys but couldn't actually have killed him, and making sure the worst offenders got a one way trip to space.

After that he spent the rest of the day alternating between restlessly pacing through his office and blankly staring through his computer screen.

Goddammit. God fucking dammit. He fucking hated it, but he couldn’t deny it any longer. He’d gotten used to Rhys’ presence. And now that he was gone there was something missing. Something that made it impossible to sleep or work or do anything useful.

Having wasted too much time already, he left his office early and made his way down to the coding department, where Rhys was bound to get done with his work any minute now.

He took a moment to locate the kid’s desk, where Rhys was still busy typing away at a keyboard, eyes completely transfixed on the monitor in front of him.

Jack rounded the desk until he stood on the opposite side from Rhys, and slammed his hands on the wood with maybe a little too much force, as he leaned forward. “Rh-”

He was cut off by a startled “Fuck! Shit! Bitch!”, as Rhys flinched back violently, tumbling to the floor and taking his chair with him.

Jack leaned a bit further forward to meet his eyes over the desk. “You okay there, pumpkin?”

“Ow.”

Jack chuckled and shook his head as Rhys got back up. “You done?” He asked with a glance at the monitor. ”I gotta talk to you.”

“Uhm, gimme a second. I was just finishing up.”

While Rhys tinkered around on his computer, Jack leaned back against the desk, watched the office around him and barked a the occasional passing worker, laughing at the way they nearly tripped over themselves. It was good to be back.

After a minute or so he heard the telltale sound of a computer shutting down, and Rhys stepped up to his side. “Done. So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Let’s take a walk.” He turned to walk away out of the office, down the hall, towards the elevator, Rhys following suit.

“So, I’ve been thinking.”

Rhys squinted at him from the side. “That’s never a good sign.”

Jack chuckled at that. He couldn’t quite remember when he stopped wanting to murder the kid for saying stupid shit like that.

“ _I’ve been thinking_ and I’ve come to the conclusion that you really helped me out down there and that I never paid you back properly. I mean, I did give you your old job back and I hooked you up with the docs, because I’m just considerate like that and I think I made a promise at some point. But I feel like there’s more I can do. So, you are officially promoted.”

Rhys looked over to him with raised eyebrows. “Promoted to what?”

“Well, whatever you want to be, really. I was thinking personal assistant to the CEO.”

“That... No. Yeah. That sounds good.”

“Great.” Jack shot him a wolfish grin. “You start tomorrow.”  
 

* * *

   
At 9am on the dot Jack’s office door opened. He watched as Rhys pocketed the keys Jack had given him the day before and walked forward and up the stairs, only to stop in front of Jack’s desk.

“Hi.”

Jack made a noncommittal grunt in response. He stood up and gave Rhys a once over, noting his more relaxed attire. “I had a desk set up for you,” he said with a nod to the side.

He gave the kid some time get himself set up at his new workspace, busying himself at his own computer, before he stepped over to him.

Rhys looked up and made a weird face that had Jack raise an eyebrow at him.

“I just remembered the last time we were in an office together.”

That thought had crossed Jack’s mind as well, and maybe he was hoping for a repeat performance, and if the kid thought that was the entire reason why he requested the kid’s presence up here then he was totally okay with leaving him in that belief.

“I also remember the first time we were in an office together.” Rhys’ hand went up to cover his cheek.

Goddammit. “Oh, will you let it go?”

“Nah, I don’t think so.”

Damn fucking kid. Why did he have to look so cute while being a dumb shit? “Do you wanna get thrown out of an airlock? ‘Cause you sound like you wanna get thrown out of an airlock.”

Rhys’ face was a mix of amusement and caution, like he only just remembered that it was Handsome friggin’ Jack he was currently teasing. “No. Do you want to throw me out of an airlock?”

“I’d rather not, so you’d better shut up now.”

Rhys stood up from his chair directly into Jack’s personal space. His hands went up to rest on Jack’s shoulders and he tilted his head. “But speaking of which, if I remember correctly, you said something about making my dreams come true.”

A grin spread over Jack’s face. “Well, the specific dream I was talking about there revolved around a certain surgery. Which is totally something I can make happen, but I feel like right now you’re referring to something else.”

Rhys rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Well, yeah. Obviously I don’t mean the surgery. At least not right now. Although I’m gonna come back to you about that. But I’m pretty sure you said something about making the rest of my dreams come true as well.”

Jack’s hand snaked around Rhys’ waist. “I don’t remember saying that, but it does sound like something I would say.”

Rhys had looked like he wanted to complain again, but he seemed to be happy with the end of that sentence. He leaned in to brush his lips against Jack’s cheek. “So, I’ve had a look and apparently you’re not expecting any interruptions for at least an hour.”

“I like where this is going.”

There was a sudden stinging pain in his cheek and he shoved Rhys away by his shoulders. “I like this significantly less.”

Rhys looked to the side with a sheepish grin. “I had to, okay?” He tried to lean in to kiss Jack’s cheek, but Jack held him in place.

“Stay away from my face.”  
  
“Hey, better I get the biting out now rather than later when I have something else in my mouth,” Rhys said with a wink.

Jack’s hand went up to rub at his flushing cheeks. The kid just had to be unreasonably hot, didn’t he? He pulled Rhys into a kiss by the neck of his shirt, minimizing the access Rhys had to his face.

He cold feel the beginnings of a grin against his face. “Shut up.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“I’ve lived in your brain. I know exactly which stupid joke you were gonna make,” he growled against Rhys’ lips.

Rhys pressed himself against Jack’s front and Jack took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. The kid was nice and warm and pliant in his hands and of course just as he thought that, Rhys took a hold of his hips to push him against the edge of the desk, his mouth coming down to press along Jack’s throat, and well okay, this was happening.

There was a cold hand possessively grabbing at his ass and a slightly warmer one snaking down the front of his pants and Jack felt a heat pooling in his groin.

He brushed his hardening length against Rhys’ front and for a split second he was confused when he didn’t feel a corresponding hardness before he remembered and let himself enjoy the friction.

Jack made a move for Rhys’ pants but was batted away by a metal hand, before it began to fiddle with his belt and zipper.

He leaned his head to the side to give the kid better access, bucking up when Rhys’ fingers closed around his clothed erection. ”There we go. That’s nice, kitten,” he purred into Rhys’ ear, while the kid was still licking and biting at his neck and stroking him.

Jack opened his eyes, that he didn’t notice closing, as he felt Rhys pull his hand back out of his pants. He was about to complain when Rhys pushed them down instead, along with his underwear.

Rhys kissed a trail along Jack’s throat, skipped the mess of clothes that Jack called an outfit, and settled on his knees. He pressed some kisses against Jack’s hips and nuzzled into his pelvis.

Jack had to take a steadying breath as Rhys looked up at him from the floor, hard cock brushing against his cheek. So this was where this was going, huh?

Rhys steadied himself, taking a hold of Jack’s bare thighs.

Jack tried hard not to flinch back at the cold metal, and ended up getting distracted when he felt Rhys trail light kisses up the inside of his thigh. Jack felt heat pool in his stomach, eager to feel Rhys' lips on his cock. The kisses continued higher up until Rhys nuzzled his face into the crook where Jack’s leg met his groin.

He pulled back slightly to look up at Jack. His breath was hot against the tip of Jack’s cock and Jack did little to suppress his full body shudders.

"Hey there. What are y- ah~” Jack let out a bone rattling groan as he felt Rhys finally lick a stripe up the underside of his cock. Yes, good, great, perfect.

Rhys grinned up at him with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes “What’s it look like?”

“Fair enough.” At the back of his mind he was dimly aware that a simple action like that shouldn't have him as hot and bothered as it did. However, he was currently preoccupied cooing praises at Rhys, encouraging him to repeat the motion two more times, liberally coating Jack’s cock in saliva, eliciting a constant stream of moans from Jack.

He gasped when he felt Rhys take the tip of his cock into his mouth, suddenly enveloped in that wet heat. His hips thrust forward instinctively, but were swiftly stopped by a metallic hand. Jack growled at being denied and instead settled for fisting a hand in Rhys' hair, pulling his face towards his crotch. 

Rhys went with the motion but more slowly than Jack would have liked. He took his time licking down the shaft, taking it inch by inch until the tip hit the back of his throat. 

Jack felt Rhys take the rest of his length in his organic hand, before he pulled off and started bobbing up and down, setting an excruciatingly slow pace. He tried again to buck up into the slick heat, but found his hips still pinned against the desk. His attempts at pulling at the back of Rhys' head proved equally fruitless, as Rhys used his metal arm to consistently keep himself at the exact distance he wanted to be.

Jack felt another wave of heat roll through him and had to suppress a whine at his lack of control.

After a while Jack started breathing heavily, feeling the beginnings of what might just be the slowest orgasm he's ever had.

Finally Rhys relented, bracing his metal arm against the desk, and essentially giving Jack free reign to do as he pleased.

Jack used the hand fisted in the kid’s hair to pull him down, while he thrust up into him, chasing his orgasm with only the vaguest thought about the kid’s safety at the back of his mind.

After five quick thrusts he came with a shout at the back of Rhys’ throat.

Jack threw his head back and clenched his free hand around the edge of the desk, as the other one was still buried in Rhys’ hair.

He felt Rhys’ throat constricting around his throbbing cock, while Rhys struggled to swallow the hot liquid shooting down his throat.

Rhys pulled off and took some time to lick him clean, before he got up, grabbed Jack’s chin, and pulled him into a kiss.

“Damn, cupcake,” Jack breathed against Rhys’ lips. “Need a hand?” he asked, as his hands were already traveling down Rhys’ front.

“Nah, I’m good. But you owe me.” Rhys gave him a wink before he turned around and walked towards the elevator.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“Lunch break.” Rhys gave him a shiteating grin as the elevator doors closed with a ding.


	5. Chapter 5

They had spent the last few weeks like that and so far their arrangement had worked. They had started planning Rhys’ surgery and he’s been on the necessary hormone supplements for a while now. Jack still got too little sleep, but if Rhys noticed how tired he looked, he didn’t say anything.  
  
Jack had come to the conclusion that the quiet in his apartment was unbearable and that the only time he was actually relaxed was in the office where the kid was constantly babbling on about something. The best way he could think to remedy that was to bring the kid back home with him.  
  
Jack was sat at his desk, watching as the scientist he had just been talking to left his office. As soon as the door closed behind him, his head was in his hand and he laid down halfway across his desk, willing himself not to fall asleep.  
  
He startled awake a few minutes later, when the door opened as Rhys returned from his lunch break. Before the kid could properly enter, Jack sat up and made a show of staring holes into the far wall in contemplation. “It’s kinda weird, right?”  
  
Rhys took his time crossing the room and getting back to his desk. “Hm? What’s that?”  
  
“Back on Pandora there was nothing I wanted more than to get out of your head and finally have some peace and quiet. But now I almost miss it. No more snooping around in your innermost thoughts, no more taking over your body, no more manipulating your feelings...”  
  
Rhys was halfway up the stairs before he whirled around to face Jack. “Wait! You what?!”  
  
“Took over your body? Yeah, there were those evil floaty jellyfish that tried to kill you, and you were unconscious, so I figured-”  
  
“No, not that. Well, also that, I guess. What was that about manipulating my feelings?” Rhys’ face started to morph into a mix of horror and disgust and Jack could see his mind go a thousand miles a minute.  
  
Maybe he’d expressed that poorly. “Oh, not what you’re thinking! I was just kidding, and even then, I wouldn’t manipulate you into doing anything you don’t want and especially not that. Well, not magically anyway. Got my charisma and my devilishly handsome looks for that.”  
  
Rhys seemed to calm somewhat at that but he didn’t look entirely convinced.  
  
And that kinda hurt. Not that anyone should trust him with anything ever. But still, he’d thought Rhys’ would have known him long enough. “Seriously, kitten, what do you take me for? As if I’d pull that kind of shit.”  
  
Rhys took a long moment to study his face and whatever it was he found, it seemed to be enough for him, because, even though he still looked wary, he stepped closer, into Jack’s personal space, snaked his arms around Jack’s waist and laid his cheek against Jack’s shoulder. Oddly comforted by the action, Jack wrapped his arms around Rhys’ shoulders, pulling him closer and enjoying the warmth against his chest, as he buried his nose in the kid’s hair.  
  
He could feel Rhys huff into his shoulder. “Those are some interesting priorities. Genocide? No problem. Rape? You can fuck right off with that.”  
  
Jack couldn’t suppress a chuckle at that. “Well. Shanking a bitch is sometimes necessary. I have not yet found a convenient way of incorporating rape into my plans to take over the universe. And even then, I have moral standards to uphold.” Well, that conversation had gotten away from him. He shook his head slightly. “Glad we settled that. But-”  
  
“Right, you were saying how much you miss being in my brain?”  
  
“Don’t get too full of yourself, cupcake. But, yeah, you’re kinda fun to hang out with, I guess.” He shifted to put his chin on top of Rhys’ head. “So, really, what I was trying to get at is: Do you have plans for tonight?”  
  
Rhys pulled back to get a good look at Jack’s face. “Are you asking me out?”  
  
“Uh... no... I just-”  
  
“’Cause I’m free.”  
  
“Well, yes, of course you are, otherwise I would have made you free. So… Hey, that’s convenient. I don’t even have to pick you up, you can just come with me right after work.”  
  
“You sure you don’t want me to go home first? I’m not exactly dressed for any nice places.”  
  
“I think it’s a bit late for buying you dinner first.”  
  
“Fair point.”  


* * *

  
In the evening, or what passed as evening on Helios, after they called it a day, Rhys followed Jack to a control panel at the side of the room. After a few button presses, the wall opened to reveal an elevator. A different one than the one he took to get to the office every day. “Where are we going exactly?”  
  
Jack was busy punching in a code inside the elevator. “To my apartment.”  
  
“To your… You’ve got an elevator to your apartment in your office?” Rhys asked as he stepped in.  
  
“Well, yeah. What? Am I gonna make the public elevators go up to my apartment? Don’t think so.”  


* * *

  
Jack heard Rhys make little contemplative noise in the back of his throat as he followed him into the apartment. He turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "What?”  
  
“Nothing. I just… I don’t know. I kinda expected it to be more impressive, I guess.”  
  
“Not good enough for you or what?”  
  
“No! No, that's not it at all. It's just that I wouldn't have put it past you to live in a castle, so this is a lot more reasonable than I expected.”  
  
Jack snorted and shook his head. Even after all this time the kid still instinctively groveled before him. He walked forward, further into the apartment. “Come on then.”  
  
Halfway down the hall he turned around and grabbed Rhys by the collar of his shirt to pull him into a kiss. “Do you insist on dinner or do you wanna skip straight to dessert?”  
  
Rhys kissed him once more, before he broke off and lowered his head to Jack’s neck. “Dessert sounds nice.” His mouth latched onto the skin of Jack’s throat and he kissed his way up his neck, along his jaw, and up to his cheek. Jack pulled his face away, causing Rhys to burst into giggles. “Now who can’t let it go?”  
  
God fucking damn stupid kid.  
  
Jack shook his head and made a show of pulling away, turning around, and walking off.  
  
“Hey, hey, hey, wait!” He could hear the laughter in Rhys’ voice, as the kid went after him with a few quick steps and wrapped his arms around Jack’s middle in an attempt to stop him.  
  
Jack let out a dramatic sigh and let his head fall back onto Rhys’ shoulder to look into his eyes. “Yes, what is it, cupcake?”  
  
“Come on.” Rhys pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Don’t be a bitch.”  
  
Jack turned around and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Ex-cuse me? I’ll have you know that-”  
  
Rhys surged forward and cut him off with a kiss.  
  
Jack would allow it just this once.  


* * *

  
Jack let himself be pulled into the bedroom, before he took control of the situation again, pushing at Rhys’ shoulder and gently shoving him into the wall, claiming his lips in a hungry kiss.  
His hands busied themselves with unbuttoning Rhys’ shirt while his tongue was exploring his mouth.  
  
Once the shirt was open, Jack broke the kiss to lick and nip along Rhys’ neck. His hands came up to grab at Rhys’ ass instead, as his hips ground against Rhys.  
  
Rhys’ metal fingers buried themselves in Jack’s hair and his hips canted forward. “This is nice and all, but I was hoping for a bit more.”  
  
Jack’s cock twitched at the thought of a bit more. “On the bed. And lose your pants."  
  
Rhys complied willingly, pushing off the wall and walking around Jack, before making quick work of his belt, stepping out of his shoes and pants and sitting his bare ass on the bed.  
  
Jack stepped to the edge of the bed, parting Rhys' thighs with his hands and fitting snugly between them. He grabbed a hold of Rhys' unbuttoned shirt and used it to pull him into a hungry kiss.  
  
Rhys responded eagerly by wrapping his legs around Jack's hips, rocking up against him, and tangling his fingers in Jack's hair to deepen the kiss.  
  
Jack’s hands locked under Rhys’ thighs before he lifted him up. Okay, listen, his back was killing him, but he made it look effortless and it was worth it. Anyway he was glad when he shuffled up onto the bed, coming to kneel close to the middle, and he could finally set the kid down again.  
  
Rhys took a moment to rid himself of his shirt, throwing it to the floor, and Jack took a moment to appreciate the blue ink sprawling across an expanse of pale skin.  
  
Jack leaned in to kiss along Rhys' throat and chest, following the swirls of the tattoos and the twin scars.  
  
Jack’s hands roamed the exposed skin, gliding over ribs and hips and thighs and back over Rhys' stomach, before they traveled down further, to where a warm wetness had collected, and he went to press two fingers into the tight heat.  
  
Rhys’ hand shot down to wrap around Jack’s wrist, as he pulled his hips away. “Uh, yeah, I’m not really about that.”  
  
Kid knew what he wanted. Jack could respect that. “Sorry.” He swiped up some of the slick fluid and brought his fingers up to run over Rhys’ clit.  
  
Rhys’ head snapped back, as his hips bucked up into the contact. “Yep, no, mhm, that’s better.”  
  
Jack repeated the motion, setting up a slow rhythm. Rhys squirmed beneath him, lacking the leverage to properly thrust up into Jack’s hand. He leaned over to draw Rhys into a kiss and swallow all the little moans coming out of the kid.  
  
Jack repeated the motion a few times, before he withdrew his fingers and instead rolled his hips up against Rhys' crotch and felt him moan into the kiss. He reached out to open the upper drawer of the night stand, from where he retrieved a conveniently placed bottle of lube. He broke the kiss to nuzzle along Rhys' jawline, his free hand moving to raise up Rhys' thigh.  
  
Rhys took the hint. He leaned back on his elbows and raised his knees up to his chest.  
  
“Open up, kitten.” Jack spread the lube liberally on the fingers of his right hand and let them trail down to Rhys' ass, where he slowly circled the tight ring of muscle before starting to slowly insert one finger, startling a moan out of Rhys.  
  
He slowly thrust the one finger in and out, until he felt Rhys relax around it, before he added a second one, repeating the process, drawing small whimpers from the kid at every slight shift.  
  
He worked in a third finger as he felt Rhys relax around him, and started to pump into him.  
  
Rhys gasped and moaned at every thrust. Jack curled his fingers, causing Rhys to throw his head back and drawing an especially loud moan from him. Jack felt a spike of pleasure run through his own body at the sight.  
  
He repeated the action, watching Rhys squirm, trying to push back onto his fingers, and a second later he felt a shiver run up his spine. Yup, this would definitely work.  
  
Jack withdrew his fingers and Rhys whined at the loss. He leaned up to kiss the kid and, with a pat on the flank, murmured “Come on, kiddo, turn around for me.”  
  
The kid complied, and with a bit of manhandling on Jack’s part, he ended up on his hands and knees, legs spread and ass on display.  
  
Jack leaned up over him, running a trail of kisses over his pale back, to nip at his ear. “There you go, pumpkin.”  
  
One hand still on Rhys’ ass, he used the other one to lube up his dick, pushing into the contact, before wiping the excess fluid on the sheets. His free hand came up to grip Rhys’ hip and he aligned himself with Rhys’ hole. Rhys pushed back against him and the tip of his cock easily slipped into the loose entrance, drawing moans from both men.  
  
Jack pushed in deeper, gradually meeting resistance but not having any problems bottoming out. He let out a hiss at the heat surrounding him and took a moment to lean his forehead against Rhys’ shoulder. “How's that for a bit more?”  
  
He felt Rhys twitch back, trying to make him go in deeper.  
  
“Yeah, uh, that, that's gonna do it.”  
  
“Thought so, pumpkin.“ Jack leaned over to kiss and nip along Rhys’ neck. His hands went to Rhys' hips to hold him in place as he pulled out almost all the way before thrusting back in, startling moans out of both of them. He didn't lose any time setting up a quick pace, idly mouthing and kissing along Rhys' jaw, neck and shoulders. His hand came around to pick up some slick and rub along Rhys’ clit.  
  
Rhys seemed to be torn between pushing back into Jack’s cock and bucking up into his hand, not getting anywhere as a result.  
  
Jack’s free hand curled around Rhys' waist to lift him up.  
  
On the next thrust after the change in angle, Rhys threw his head back, his mouth hanging open noiselessly and his breathing coming more uneven.  
  
With the combination of rubs and thrusts it only took a few more moments until Jack felt Rhys tense underneath him, his body curled up, his crotch pressing firmly into Jack’s hand, and his hole clenching around Jack's cock that was still buried in him, a cry muffled by the pillow he was pressing his face into, yet still clearly audible in the bedroom, before going lax and pliant in Jack's hands, only barely holding himself up on his elbows.  
  
Jack only got three more thrusts in before following suit, spilling buried deep within Rhys.  
  
He felt the tension drain out of his body, bonelessly falling forward, his head coming to rest on Rhys' back wordlessly.  
  
After the tension left Rhys' body, he only sank down a bit, Jack still splayed out across his back.  
  
Jack dragged his fingers through the additional fluid produced by his boyfriend's orgasm and kept idly playing around there, only stopping when Rhys started to flinch away, the pained hiss still muffled by the pillow.  
  
Jack pulled out and was quick to bend down and lap up his own release trickling out of Rhys.  
  
Rhys was shaking somewhere between pain and pleasure, and wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed when Jack lowered him back down.  
  
Satisfied with cleaning up his boyfriend, Jack slumped down on his back on the bed next to Rhys. Rhys shimmied over to put his head on Jack’s shoulder and sling his arm and leg across his torso. After a few more deep breaths he leaned up to press a soft kiss to Jack’s jaw, just below the edge of the mask.  
  
The kid dropped his head back onto Jack’s shoulder, running his organic hand over Jack’s chest and subconsciously humming under his breath. Jack wrapped an arm around him, drew him closer and buried his nose in his hair. He let his scent and the melody wash over him and drifted off soon after.  


* * *

  
He woke up to Rhys wriggling out of his arms.  
  
His first instinct was to pull him closer.  
  
There was a whisper in his ear. “Jack, I gotta pee.”  
  
Jack let out a growl but reluctantly he let him go. Rhys slipped out as soon as he could and Jack curled around his pillow instead. He heard Rhys’ steps move away and dimly wondered whether he had bothered to tell him where the bathroom was the night before. Probably not.  
  
Jack stayed in bed a few more minutes.  
  
The kid was a lot softer and more cuddly than he would have given him credit for. With a glance at the clock- nope that was still broken. He pulled his ECHOphone from the side table to check the time there. And indeed he had slept twice as much as he usually did nowadays.  
  
Which meant that, yay, his theory was right. But it also meant that, shit, his theory was right.  
  
He was still too tired to think about the implications of that or to get out of bed for that matter. But his stomach kept growling at him and Rhys hadn’t returned, so unwilling as he was, he still rolled out of bed and dragged himself to his kitchen to make breakfast.  
  
He had time to make too many pancakes, carry them to the living room, start up a console and play a few levels around his breakfast before a pouty Rhys joined him in the living room and draped himself over the empty space of the couch dramatically.  
  
“What’s up, cupcake?”  
  
Rhys lifted the arm that was lying across his face, to shoot Jack a miserable look.“Remember how I said this place was reasonable? I lied.”  
  
“You got lost on your way to the bathroom?”  
  
Rhys pushed his feet against the armrest to propel himself forward, as he gradually scooted along the couch where he could eventually rest his head on Jack’s thigh. “And back to the bedroom. And the kitchen. And the living room. You’ve got entirely too many rooms here.”  
  
Jack smiled and ran his fingers through Rhys'  hair. “You listed a grand total of four.”  
  
“Exactly. Way too many.”  
  
Rhys perked up and turned on his palm monitor. Jack continued playing, but watched out of the corner of his eye as Rhys read something and a frown formed on his forehead while swore up a storm under his breath.  
  
“What’s wrong, cupcake? News from the doctor? Something gone wrong?”  
  
“Nah, just some scheduling problem. The guys down in R&D have something to show. Apparently it's urgent. We gotta go.”  
  
“No, we don't.”  
  
“But-”  
  
“Office is closed on Saturday, baby.”  
  
“Satur-?” He brought up a different screen with a flick of his wrist. “Right you are.” He let his arm fall down the side of the couch and smacked his face back into Jack’s thigh. “Why am I awake?”  


* * *

  
Wasn’t the kid supposed to be a nerd? Jack was pretty sure the kid was supposed to be a nerd. Yet here he was and he’d never even heard of  _Astroidvania_. But Jack had to believe that there was still hope for the future of this world, so he most graciously showed the game to him and they had not yet stopped playing.  
  
While they were waiting on a loading screen, Jack felt Rhys staring at him from the side. “What?”  
  
Rhys took some time to look him over more openly before a small smile settled over his face. “You look a lot better.”  
  
“What’s that supposed to mean? I always look impeccable”  
  
“Obviously.” Rhys shook his head and turned back to the TV.  
  
“And what do you mean by  _that_?”  
  
Rhys just smiled.  
  
With a growl Jack pushed him over and pinned him to the couch, leaning over him, his hands on Rhys’ chest.  
  
After a second of shock, Rhys grinned and brought his hands up to tangle them in Jack’s hair and pull him into a kiss.  
  
Jack was  _so_ fucked.  


* * *

  
Weeks passed like that. A lot more actual work got done in Jack's office and afterwards they would both head to Jack’s apartment and usually ended up in bed. Because that was what this was about. That was the only reason he even brought Rhys back here. Totally. Jack would fight you on this.  
  
Except, Jack guessed, they were only human. One of them at least.  
  
Jack paid the delivery lady and carried the bag of takeout over to the living room.  
  
“Ah, there you are, handsome.” Rhys stood up from the couch, where Jack had parked him, slid out of his shirt and pressed up against Jack. “You mentioned something about dessert?”  
  
“As good as that sounds.” He pressed a kiss to the side of Rhys' jaw and pushed him back a bit. “I'm gonna have to decline.” With a liberal swipe of his arm, Jack cleared all the clutter off the table, put down the bag, took out the boxes of takeout and set them down there instead.”I'm actually hungry.”  
  
"Okay then. Dinner first." Rhys made to put the shirt on again.  
  
Jack grabbed the discarded shirt and dropped it behind the sofa. “Nope. Too late. No takesies backsies.”  
  
Jack ignored the way Rhys rolled his eyes at him and instead sprawled out across the couch, his legs spread, and stretched towards the coffee table, where he just so managed to grab a hold of his fork, and attempted to stab at his food like that.  
  
Rhys swatted at his chest, to stop him from doing so. “Jack, you can’t eat like that.”  
  
“Hell yeah, I can,” Jack responded, sounding slightly strained from the stretch and the effort of not falling off the couch.  
  
With a disappointed click of his tongue, Rhys settled himself between Jack’s spread legs.  
  
Jack gave a victorious chuckle, but let out a small ‘oof’ when Rhys draped himself across his chest. “Well, now I definitely can’t eat.”  
  
“Too bad.”  
  
Goddamn, stupid kid always knew how to get what he wanted.  
  
Jack shimmied up the couch to lean on the armrest, so he could eat properly and so he could reach the remote that had taken a dive off the table when he had made place for their food, all the while making sure that Rhys could still comfortably lean against him.  
  
“Tch, you suck.” Rhys shook his head as Jack turned on the TV, movie already selected and queued. Preparation was key after all.  
  
Rhys snorted in inelegant laughter when the title screen flickered across the screen. “Really? A Rom-Com? Isn’t that a bit cheesy?”  
  
Jack turned to the side with what definitely wasn’t a pout. Kids these days… “I will have you know that this is a classic.” He glanced down at Rhys, who didn’t look convinced. “Shut up and eat.”  
  
In their slightly awkward position, Rhys’ elbow alternating between digging into Jack’s ribs and hips, they managed to finish their meal, before Jack laid back down properly, hugging Rhys tightly to his chest.  
  
Two thirds through the movie Rhys got up on his elbows and looked down at Jack. “You’re being really sappy, you know that?”  
  
“Um, excuse me? I am not!?”  
  
“Yeah, you are.” Rhys leaned up to kiss the corner of Jack’s mouth and the scar running across his cheek.  
  
Well shit. How was he supposed to argue against  _that_? “Hmpf.”  
  
Rhys let his head drop back down against Jack’s chest. “I like it.”  


* * *

  
When the credits rolled, Rhys turned over and slumped against Jack, his back pressed to Jack’s chest.  
  
Jack turned his head to kiss the kid’s jaw. His arm came up to wrap around Rhys’ torso, his hand gently stroking the intricate patterns of the tattoos on his chest. He heard a faint humming emanating from Rhys as he felt his body grow heavy with sleep.

  
Yup. This might just be an arrangement he could live with.


End file.
